Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against thee in thought, word and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved thee with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of thy Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in thy will, and walk in thy ways, to the glory of thy Name. Amen.

Programming Aids

Performance Difficulty:

moderate

Seasonal Usage:

Advent

Christmas

Easter

Epiphany

Lent

Descriptive Terms:

Anglican

contrition

humility

liturgical

prayer

Allow Excerpts:

Composition is a single movement

Composer’s Notes:

I chose this text because I think it asks us to acknowledge the minor misdeeds and omissions we permit in our everyday lives. So often we make small allowances for ourselves, fudge things that are difficult for us, or mistreat our loved ones in little ways. Most of the time we allow ourselves to ignore these things, hoping that nobody, perhaps not even ourselves, will notice. I think that those small things are often far more important than they seem, and I hope that this text, and this piece, will remind us to be more careful of ourselves and of one another.